writing--addressed to the King, Henri IV., has much merit. The second, on poets, has more, and abounds in vigorous strokes, such as that of the courtier bard who Meditant un sonnet, medite un eveche; and as the couplet which concludes a lively sketch of his diplomatic experiences-- Mais instruit par le temps a la fin j'ai connu Que la fidelite n'est pas grand revenu. This poem, which contains some humorous descriptions of the poverty of poets, ends with an eloquent panegyric on Ronsard. The next, on 'La Vie de la Cour,' attacks a very favourite subject of the age, and winds up with an extremely well-told version of the fable of the beast of prey and the mule whose name is written on its hoof. The fourth returns to the subject of the poverty of poets. The fifth argues at some length, and in a spirit not very far removed from that of Montaigne, the thesis that 'Le gout particulier decide de tout.' It contains some of Regnier's finest passages. A subject somewhat similar in kind, 'L'honneur ennemi de la vie,' gives further occasion, in the sixth, for the display of the moralising spirit of the age, which, in Regnier, takes the form of a kind of epicurean pococurantism mingled with occasional bursts of noble sentiment. The seventh is one of the most personal of all; it is entitled 'L'amour qu'on ne peut dompter,' and is a comment on the text _Video meliora proboque_. The eighth is one of the innumerable imitations of the famous ninth satire of the first book of Horace, _Ibam forte via sacra_, and perhaps the happiest of all such, though it is difficult not to regret that Regnier should have devoted his too rare moments of work to mere imitation. The ninth, however, is open to no such charge. It is entitled _Le Critique outre_, and is an extraordinarily vigorous and happy remonstrance against the intolerant pedantry with which Malherbe was criticising the Pleiade. This satire is addressed to Rapin, the veteran contributor to the _Menippee._ It is impossible to describe the weak side of the reforms which Malherbe, and after him Boileau, introduced into French poetry, better than in these lines, which deserve citation for their literary importance:-- Cependant leur scavoir ne s'estend seulement Qu'a regratter un mot douteux au jugement, Prendre garde qu'un qui ne heurte une diphtongue; Espier si des vers la rime est breve ou longue; Ou bien si la voyelle, a l'autre s'unissant, Ne rend point a l'oreille un vers trop languissant. Ils rampent bassement, foibles d'inventions, Et n'osent, peu hardis, tenter les fictions, Froids a l'imaginer; ear s'ils font quelque chose C'est proser de la rime, et rimer de la prose, Que l'art lime et relime, et polit de facon, Qu'elle rend a l'oreille un agreable son.